Sponsored by Nuclear Blast USA, Decibel Magazine, Amoeba Music L.A. and Dean Guitars, the world’s first-ever film festival dedicated to heavy metal music will be taking place at the Downtown Independent Cinema in Los Angeles, California this coming March 31stthrough April 3rd, 2011.

“We are proud to announce that Germany’s BLIND GUARDIAN have submitted a magical, one-of-a-kind, still-in-the-making film edited by Andreas Fiekers called ‘TRAVELERS AT THE EDGE OF TIME’ for a world premiere to debut exclusively at the Heavy Metal Film Festival in Downtown Los Angeles. The new film speaks to the band’s evolution and how it led them into the symphonic saga of their latest album, 2010’s Billboard Top 200-charting At The Edge Of Time. ‘TRAVELERS AT THE EDGE OF TIME’ will be screened at the HMFF’s special Closing Night event on Sunday at 9 p.m.”

TRAVELERS AT THE EDGE OF TIME (Editor: Andreas Fiekers) Germany 2011: This documentary follows Germany’s legendary Power Metal band BLIND GUARDIAN through an unfinished cycle of their remarkable career up to now. Showcasing an intimate insight throughout the massive amount of events the musicians had to face since Summer 2009, the film begins abruptly during the production for their breathtaking opus At The Edge Of Time when the band begins orchestra recordings at the Rudolfinum in Prague. During the fragile act of creating real music, BLIND GUARDIAN are suddenly confronted with the virtual reality of a computer game called Sacred 2. While tasting the sweetness of having accomplished one mission, another one immediately starts with dreary rehearsals in the “Twilight Hall” before the band heads off to spread their mystical message to thousands of enthusiastic bards on another world tour. We will meet an unmasked Hansi Kürsch, André Olbrich, Marcus Siepen, Frederik Ehmke, and their crew members through the many private on-the-road & behind-the-scenes encounters. Fans will witness BLIND GUARDIAN take part in their never-ending quest for perfection beyond the musical aspects when cameras follow the band onto different stages from the first indoor shows to subsequent outdoor shows on the “Sacred World and Songs Divine Tour.” Travelers At The Edge Of Time then takes on a new voyage when the group gets back to the studio and starts working on its lifetime project: the orchestral album. Both completion of this film project and the touring cycle for the latest album are not yet complete, proving only one thing: There is no real beginning, nor there is a real ending…

In addition to the BLIND GUARDIAN film’s world premiere, “UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US” has been added to the midnight screening taking place on Saturday, April 2nd.

UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US (Aaron Aites & Audrey Ewell) USA 2009: Until The Light Takes Us tells the story of black metal. Part music scene and part cultural uprising, black metal rose to worldwide notoriety in the mid-nineties when a rash of suicides, murders, and church burnings accompanied the explosive artistic growth and output of a music scene that would forever redefine what heavy metal is and what it stands for to other musicians, artists and music fans worldwide. Until The Light Takes Us goes behind the highly sensationalized media reports of “Satanists running amok in Europe” to examine the complex and largely misunderstood principles and beliefs that led to this rebellion against both Christianity and modern culture.

To capture this on film, directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell moved to Norway and lived with the musicians for several years, building relationships that allowed them to create a surprisingly intimate portrait of this violent, but ultimately misunderstood, movement. The result is a poignant, moving story that’s as much about the idea that reality is composed of whatever the most people believe, regardless of what’s actually true, as it is about a music scene that blazed a path of murder and arson across the northern sky.

Stay tuned for additions to the festival line-up, plus the announcement of the short films section.

Las Marimbas Del Infierno (Marimbas From Hell) by Julio Hernández Cordón will be opening the festival on Thursday evening, March 31st.

The first portion of the maiden line-up for 2011’s Heavy Metal Film Festival can be viewed at the festival’s official site. Click HERE to download HMFF movie posters (Password: b=8X+6G).